Blogs from Valparaíso Region, Chile, South America - page 8

Ever since we arrived in South America, from Ecuador to Chile, we have been constantly aware of the fame of Bernardo O’Higgins. This son of an Irish father (who happened to be the Governor of Chile) and a Chilean mother, was born in Chile on 20th August 1778. He was sent to England for his education, returned to Chile to become a sailor and ended up an Admiral and then, upon independence, the Supreme Director of the country. He is recognised as Chile´s liberator, as well as Peru´s, in the fight for independence from Spain. The name O´Higgins is everywhere, and every city has an Avenida O´Higgins. In our ignorance we knew little of this famous man, so, on Wednesday we spent the morning in the maritime museum in Valparaiso, where a whole salon is dedicated ... read more

3 décembre 2014 - Jour 47 Ce matin on quitte Santiago pour se rendre sur la côte à Valparaiso. Il y a des bus qui partent toutes les 20 minutes de la capitale, on va donc directement au terminal de bus pour acheter nos billets. Comme il y a un bus qui arrive au même moment, on nous demande d'aller prendre notre billet directement auprès du chauffeur. Mais comme certains passagers avaient déjà leurs tickets avec une place attribuée, ceux-là montent en premier et on vient ensuite compléter les places libres. Mais le problème, c'est que pendant qu'ils remplissent manuellement le bus ici, à l'arrêt suivant ils continuent de vendre éléctroniquement des places. Résultat quand on arrive à l'arrêt d'après, ceux qui n'ont pas de siège attribué doivent céder leur place à ceux qui ont ce ... read more

On Thursday, we signed up with a local company, Turistik, for the ride to the Coast to visit Pablo Neruda’s seashore home, Isla Negra. The tour offered the best of both worlds, the opportunity to see this Museum and, afterwards, a visit to a new organic winery in one of Chile’s youngest wine producing valleys, San Antonio. One of their vans was picking us up at 8:15 AM in front of the W Hotel, and taking us to their main depot area in the Parque Araucano Shopping Center to meet the vehicle designated for this particular tour. It is a well-organized enterprise that we had used in the past. The drive to Neruda’s house was heading south on the Costanera highway. It reminds me somewhat or the Florida’s Turnpike in that it has Toll stations along ... read more

It's challenging trying to wade through romantic advances as a foreigner. For some reason I've been meeting a lot of guys here and I can't quite put my finger on why. I really don't get this much action back at home. To not put people on blast, my friends and I decided to name them. There's Pheromone Guy, Persistent Guy, Old-man Guy? I'm not going to touch on that one! Sleeping Beauty Guy, Brazilian Guy, Horseback Guide Guy, and then one Guy who shall remain doubly nameless. Brittney has been joking and calling me the South American man magnet. Yes, Chilean men are fascinated by black women. It's rare that they see one. But at this point, I don't know if I can even blame it on that. I was black last time too! But this ... read more

Screaming at the top of my lungs in the Plaza de Viña is how I started my day today. If you had just gotten out of a colectivo and noticed that your left thumb did NOT get the memo you might have done the same thing. I can only hope that most people did not understand the words that came out of my mouth as I stood in front of a busy colectivo stop emitting a blood curdling cry. I slammed my thumb in the colectivo door! I don't even mean that I banged my thumb with the door. No. I mean I slammed the car door completely shut and my thumb was in it! I have never been so clumsy as I am here. It was like this last time too only this time I've ... read more